Overcoming Abuse & Building Something Beautiful with Kelly Martins
Trigger warning: this episode discusses domestic abuse.
Some business origin stories start with a market gap. Kelly Martins' story started with survival.
Kelly is an award-winning entrepreneur, marketing and branding professional, motivational speaker, author, and domestic abuse survivor and advocate. This week on The Chaotic Middle, she shared how leaving an abusive relationship became the unexpected starting point for her entire career, and how that journey eventually shaped her signature GRATI framework.
Starting Over From Rock Bottom
Before entrepreneurship, Kelly worked in project management and IT for a school department in Springfield. She was good at the job, but it never lit her up. When she left her abusive relationship, she found herself stripped of nearly everything she once identified with. That loss became an unexpected turning point.
"When you leave abuse, you are more or less stripped away from all of the things that you once were."
Rebuilding meant starting with something small. Early in her healing journey, Kelly made a promise to herself: she would get up every morning and get dressed, even if her only plan was to sit on the couch. She'd do her hair and makeup, not for anyone else, but to feel like herself again. It felt so simple, but it became her first real step toward healing.
From a Boutique to a Calling
That healing process led Kelly to open an e-commerce boutique called Contribution Clothing. The concept centered on female empowerment, with a portion of profits going to nonprofits that supported women and girls. Kelly threw herself into the work, built partnerships with nonprofits, and grew the business quickly enough to leave her full-time job.
As her boutique gained attention, people started asking Kelly how she did it. That curiosity organically grew into consulting work, helping other entrepreneurs with their own marketing, branding, and positioning. Eventually, this became GRATI Consulting.
Kelly later rebranded her boutique to The GRATI Shop, short for GRATItude. That word now appears in the name of every business she's built since.
"I started to become, through my healing process, really grateful for the experiences that I had, because they were leading me to who I was becoming."
Two years ago, Kelly closed the boutique entirely. She had gotten married and felt that chapter of her life closing alongside it. Still, she kept a small line of graphic tees through the same small business vendor she'd originally partnered with, as a nod to where it all began.
Business Strategy Starts With Mindset
Through GRATI Consulting, Kelly helps business owners with brand positioning, website design, and marketing strategy. Early on, she noticed a pattern among nearly every client she worked with.
"Ninety percent of them have mindset struggles that they're facing, whether it's self-worth, not charging their value, or imposter syndrome."
That realization led Kelly to launch the GRATI Collective at the beginning of this year. While GRATI Consulting focuses on the business itself, the Collective focuses on the person running it. Through a signature five-week course called the GRATI Framework, leadership workshops, and keynote speaking, Kelly helps clients build daily mindset habits alongside their business strategy.
Why Foundation Always Comes First
Kelly's consulting process always starts in the same place, no matter what a client thinks they need. She built what she calls the Brand Alignment Blueprint, broken into three phases: branding, building, and visibility.
"No matter what phase you want to come in at, I always make you go to phase one."
Kelly explained that business owners often become too close to their own brand to see it clearly. During initial strategy calls, she asks clients to describe their business as if she's never heard of it before, even though she's already researched them. That exercise consistently uncovers details that never made it onto their website or social media.
She's also direct about one modern shortcut she sees too often: asking AI tools to simply "write website copy" without first understanding your audience or positioning. (Chaotic note here: as a copywriter myself, I also hate this. Don’t do this. You’ll end up spending more time fixing it than it’s worth. Okay… carry on.)
"You need to know how to prompt. You need to know the questions to ask. The foundation, man, that's the most important thing."
The GRATI Framework
Kelly's signature keynote centers on a framework she calls GRATI, which stands for GRATItude, Reflection, Alignment, Transformation, and Intention. Each piece builds on the last, starting with a gratitude practice that goes beyond simply listing things you're thankful for.
"A lot of times when people have a gratitude practice, it's more like checking a box. But they don't actually feel the gratitude."
Kelly lives with PTSD from her abuse, and stress can quickly trigger both her anxiety and her PTSD symptoms. To manage this, she built a non-negotiable morning routine involving gratitude journaling, EFT tapping to release lingering stress, meditation, and a quick oracle card pull for the day's intention. She does it all before she even gets out of bed.
Her advice for anyone feeling overwhelmed by the idea of a mindset practice is simple: start small.
"Just finding time for yourself throughout the day somewhere where you can check in and give yourself a minute to feel how you're feeling."
Sharing Her Story Changed Everything
Kelly's blog regularly features spotlights on her clients, partly to support their visibility and SEO, and partly out of genuine gratitude for the people who've supported her business. That same instinct toward storytelling shaped one of the most pivotal moments in her own healing.
Kelly initially kept the reason behind her boutique private. Eventually, she wrote a blog post sharing her story publicly, including with friends and family who had no idea what she'd experienced.
"The support that I got after I shared my why was absolutely incredible. I had so many women coming to me saying, this happened to me too."
That vulnerability built a community around her work and became part of her own ongoing healing.
Answering the Chaotic Questions
At the end of every episode, I ask each guest the same three questions.
If you could go back in time and talk to your 2005 self, what would you say to her?
Don't give up. You're resilient.
A new mom comes to you for advice. What's the first thing you tell her?
Make sure you're filling your own cup.
What do you hope people remember about you and your work from this time period?
Everything I do comes from passion. I genuinely love to help people follow their dreams and create the business they've always wanted.
Where to Find Kelly
You can find Kelly Martins on Instagram or LinkedIn. You can also visit her website or listen to her podcast, Six Figure Plus Club.
There Is Sunshine on the Other Side
If you've ever felt like rock bottom was permanent, Kelly's story is proof that it isn't. If this episode resonated with you, share it with someone who needs a reminder that healing and reinvention are always possible.
I’ll be back next week with another episode of an extraordinary woman in business. Subscribe now to never miss an episode of The Chaotic Middle Podcast:
